Advisors

Widely recognized for his work in biochemistry and molecular biology, especially on how a cell's genetic material is replicated as the cell divides, Alberts is also a staunch advocate of science education and the current editor of the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s prestigious journal, Science. read more

Alan Alda is a six-time Emmy Award–winning actor, writer, and director. He has interviewed hundreds of scientists from around the world as host of PBS's long-running program Scientific American Frontiers, and received the National Science Board’s Public Service Award for his efforts in broadening the public’s understanding of science. read more

David Baltimore is chairman of the board of directors of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and Robert A. Millikan Professor of Biology at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. For his research in virology, he was the recipient of the 1975 Nobel Prize in Medicine. read more

John Barrow is a professor of mathematical sciences in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge in England. He is also the author of nearly twenty books for a general audience and the director of the Millennium Mathematics Project, a mathematics education initiative. read more

Günter Blobel is the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Professor at Rockefeller University in New York City and an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase, Maryland. For his research into the mechanisms by which proteins find their way around the inside of a cell, he received the 1999 Nobel Prize in Medicine. read more

David Bodanis is an author of popular science books whose works include the best-selling E=mc²: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation, as well as a business consultant.  His book Electric Universe won the 2006 Royal Society Aventis Prize for Science Books. read more

John Seely Brown is a senior fellow at the Annenberg Center for Communication at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Part scientist, part artist, and part strategist, he is an expert on organizational studies. read more

Bill Bryson is a best-selling writer of 17 books (and counting) on travel, science, and the English language, and the current chancellor of Durham University in northern England.  He is a winner of the 2004 Royal Society Aventis Prize for Science Books and the European Commission's 2004 Descartes Prize for Science Communication. read more

Red Burns is an entrepreneur, inventor, and the founder and chair of the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University's Tisch School of Art in New York City. She has received many awards, including the 2002 Chrysler Design Award and the 1998 Mayor's Award for Excellence in Science and Technology. read more

Steven Chu is the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a professor of physics and molecular and cell biology at the University of California, Berkeley. He won the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics for his pioneering work manipulating single atoms with laser light. read more

Visual Arts Advisor — Amanda McDonald Crowley is an arts producer, researcher and curator who works primarily in the area of new media and electronic arts. She has held positions all over the world, including Australia and India, and is currently Executive Director of the EYEBEAM Art & Technology Center in New York. read more

Paul Davies is a theoretical physicist, cosmologist, astrobiologist, and author of numerous books about science for a general audience. His research ranges from the origin of the universe to the origin of life. Davies is the director of the BEYOND Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science at Arizona State University. read more

Richard Dawkins is an evolutionary biologist and author, who is known for his popularization of Darwinian ideas as well as for original thinking on evolutionary theory. He is the Charles Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford in England. read more

Daniel Dennett is a philosopher who studies mind and consciousness through the lens of evolutionary biology and cognitive science. Author of several bestselling books including Darwin’s Dangerous Idea and Consciousness Explained, he is the Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy and Co-Director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University. read more

Freeman Dyson is a theoretical physicist and professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton, New Jersey. A key contributor to the theory of quantum electrodynamics, he is an avid writer and the director of the Space Studies Institute. read more

Sylvia Earle is an oceanographer, marine botanist, ecologist, and writer. The National Geographic Society's explorer-in-residence since 1998, she tirelessly works for the preservation and exploration of the world's marine ecosystems. She has led more than 50 expeditions and spent more than 6,500 hours of her life underwater. read more

Timothy Ferris is an American science author, journalist, and film producer. read more

Visual Arts Advisor — Zhang Ga is a media artist and curator who has exhibited his own work and curated media art exhibitions internationally. He is artistic director and curator of Synthetic Times — Media Art China 2008, a Beijing Olympics Cultural Project organized by the National Art Museum of China. read more

Visual Arts Advisor — Peter Galison is a leading historian of science whose research explores the interaction of experimentation, instrumentation and theory in physics. An author, film producer and MacArthur Award-winner, he is the Joseph Pellegrino University Professor in the Department of the History of Science at Harvard University. read more

Jim Gates is known for his pioneering work in particle physics seeking a unified description of all physics. A committed researcher and educator, he is the Toll Physics Professor and director of the Center for String and Particle Theory at the University of Maryland. read more

Visual Arts Advisor — Artist and professor of engineering Ken Goldberg is Director of the Center for New Media at UC Berkeley. He is the founding director of the Berkeley Automation Sciences Lab which investigates tele-robotics and computer-assisted surgery. Goldberg's art installations have been exhibited around the World including at the Whitney Biennial, and at the Pompidou Center in Paris. read more

Susan Greenfield is the Fullerian Professor of Physiology at Oxford University in England, the director of the Royal Institution of Great Britain in London, and a member of the Upper House of the British parliament. The focus of her research is on biochemical and electrical processes taking place in the human brain and their role in neurological disorders. read more

Paul Greengard is the Vincent Astor Professor, head of the Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, and director of the Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Disease Research at Rockefeller University in New York City. For his research on the biochemical processes underlying neuronal change, he was awarded the 2000 Nobel Prize in Medicine. read more

David Gross is the Frederick W. Gluck Chair in Theoretical Physics and the director of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of California at Santa Barbara. For his crucial contributions to theoretical particle physics, he received the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics. read more

Heidi Hammel is a planetary scientist at the Space Science Institute in Boulder and is a devoted educator with a particular interest in bringing science to children and young people. She is a recipient of the Sagan Medal awarded by the American Astronomical Society for outstanding communication to the general public. read more

Visual Arts Advisor — John G. Hanhardt is consulting senior curator for film and media arts at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Since beginning his career at the Department of Film at the Museum of Modern Art, he has curated film and media arts at the Walker Art Center, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Guggenheim Museum. read more

William Haseltine is a researcher, inventor, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is the chairman and CEO of Haseltine Associates Ltd. and president of the William A. Haseltine Foundation for Medical Sciences and the Arts. He pioneered the use of genetic information for fighting diseases such as AIDS. read more

Dudley Herschbach is the Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a professor of physics at Texas A&M University in College Station. For his work on the dynamics of chemical reactions, he was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. read more

Roald Hoffmann is a professor of chemistry and the Frank H.T. Rhodes Professor of Humane Letters at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. He is also a committed teacher, essayist, poet, playwright, and recipient of the 1981 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. read more

Physicist Shirley Ann Jackson has devoted over a decade to science public policy, serving from 1995 to 1999, at the behest of President Clinton, as Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. She was recently selected to receive the 2007 Vannevar Bush Award from the National Science Board for her lifetime of contributions in science, education and public policy. Jackson is president of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. read more

Mae Jemison is a scientist, physician, astronaut, and educator. In 1992, she became the first woman astronaut of color when she flew aboard the space shuttle Endeavour as a science mission specialist. She is the founder of the Jemison Group, the Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence, and the BioSentient Corporation. read more

Michio Kaku is a theoretical physicist, best-selling author, and host of the nationally syndicated radio shows, Science Fantastic and Explorations in Science. He is the Henry Semat Professor of Theoretical Physics, at the City University of New York. read more

Eric Kandel is Kavli Professor and University Professor of Physiology and Psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City and a senior investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase, Maryland. For his work on the molecular biology of learning and memory he received the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. read more

Mary-Claire King is the American Cancer Society Research Professor in the Department of Medicine and Genetics at the University of Washington in Seattle. The focus of her research is the genetics of complex human disorders such as cancer; she has also applied the methods of molecular biology to the study of human evolution. read more

Lawrence Krauss is a theoretical physicist and best-selling author whose research focuses on the origin and evolution of the universe. He has written several general level science books, including The Physics of Star Trek, and is a frequent editorialist in magazines and newspapers. Krauss is the Ambrose Swasey Professor of Physics at Case Western Reserve University. read more

Harold Kroto is the Francis Eppes Professor of Chemistry at Florida State University in Tallahassee and a professor emeritus at the University of Sussex in Brighton, England. For his role in the discovery of a new form of the element carbon, buckminsterfullerene, he received the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. read more

Eric Lander is one of the driving forces behind the current revolution in genomics, the systematic study of an organism’s complete set of genetic information. He is the founding director of the Broad Institute (a collaboration of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, and affiliated hospitals), a professor of biology at MIT in Cambridge, and a professor of systems biology at Harvard Medical School in Boston. read more

Leon Lederman is the Director Emeritus of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois, Pritzker Professor of Science at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, and a recipient of the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physics. He is also the author of several popular books, including The God Particle and Symmetry and the Beautiful Universe. read more

David Lee is the J. G. White Professor of Physics Emeritus at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and a noted experimental physicist. For his discovery of the surprising low-temperature behavior of helium-3, he was awarded the 1996 Nobel Prize in Physics. read more

Walter Lewin is a professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, where he is a member of the X-ray Astronomy Group. He is known to a wider audience through his inspiring introductory physics lectures, which are available for download on the Internet. read more

Alan Lightman's novel Einstein's Dreams was an international bestseller and has been translated into thirty languages. Both a distinguished physicist and an accomplished novelist, Lightman was the first professor at MIT to receive a joint appointment in the sciences and the humanities. read more

Thomas E. Lovejoy is the president of the Heinz Center for Science, Economics, and the Environment in Washington, D.C. He is an ardent conservationist, an expert on biodiversity, and a high-level political advisor on matters of ecology and economics. read more

Visual Arts Advisor — Roger Malina is an astrophysicist and former director of the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille where he currently works in observational cosmology investigating dark matter in the Universe. He is Chair of the Board of Leonardo, International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology and Executive Editor of the Leonardo publications at MIT Press. read more

Rob Morrow is an actor, writer, and restaurant owner who has been nominated multiple times for Golden Globe and Emmy Awards. Best known for his role in the hit TV series Northern Exposure, he was recently seen in the film The Bucket List and is currently starring in the television show Numb3rs as FBI Special Agent Don Eppes. read more

Nobel Prize-winner Paul Nurse is President of Rockefeller University, where he also continues to do research in cell biology. He is the former Chief Executive of Cancer Research UK and the recipient of many awards. In 1999, he was knighted in Great Britain for his contributions to cancer research. read more

Nobel Prize-winning physicist William Phillips is a professor at the University of Maryland and leads the Laser Cooling and Trapping Group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. His research on manipulating atoms with laser light has led to more accurate atomic clocks and a more fundamental understanding of light-matter interactions. read more

Steven Pinker is the Johnstone Family Professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The focus of his research are language and cognition. He has brought his research to a wider audience in popular nonfiction books, two of which were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. read more

V.S. Ramachandran investigates the nature of self and human consciousness. His work spans the causes and effects of synesthesia and phantom limb pain to questions about visual perception and the brain. He is Director of the Center for Brain and Cognition at the University of California, San Diego. read more

Lisa Randall is a professor of physics at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her research focuses on models that extend standard particle physics, notably by including extra dimensions of space. read more

Martin Rees is the president of the Royal Society and the British Astronomer Royal. He is both Master and a professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics at the University of Cambridge’s Trinity College. He is also a member of the upper house of the British parliament. read more

Matt Ridley is an English science communicator. The main themes of his writings, which include four books that were nominated for the Royal Society Aventis Prize for Science Books, are genetics and the evolution of human behavior. read more

Vera C. Rubin is a senior fellow in the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism at the Carnegie Institution of Washington. She is an observational astronomer who is an expert on the motions of gas and stars in galaxies and the motions of galaxies in the universe. read more

Jeffrey D. Sachs is the Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development, a professor of Health Policy and Management, and the director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University in New York City. He is the president and cofounder of the Millennium Promise Alliance, an initiative to end extreme poverty by the year 2025. read more

Neurologist Oliver Sacks has spent a lifetime exploring a vast array of human experience – from Tourette's syndrome and autism to phantom limb syndrome and schizophrenia. His many best-selling books include Uncle Tungsten, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, and Awakenings, which became an acclaimed film. Sacks is a professor of clinical neurology and clinical psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center. His writings appear regularly in The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books. read more

James Schamus is an award-winning screenwriter and producer. He is the CEO of Focus Features, whose films have included Brokeback Mountain, Lost in Translation, and Atonement. Schamus is an associate professor of film at Columbia University’s School of the Arts. read more

David E. Shaw serves as chief scientist of D. E. Shaw Research and as a senior research fellow at the Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics at Columbia University. His laboratory is currently involved in the development and application of new technologies for high-speed molecular dynamics simulations of proteins and drug molecules. read more

Robert Shaye is a businessman, film producer and director. He is the co-founder of New Line Cinema, a successful independent motion picture production and distribution company. read more

Visual Arts Advisor — Tiffany Shlain is an award-winning filmmaker, founder of The Webby Awards and co-founder of International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences and an Aspen Institute fellow. Her films have been selected at over 100 festivals including Sundance and Tribeca, receiving over 21 international awards. She is currently working on a new feature documentary, Connected. read more

Visual Arts Advisor — Leonard Shlain is Chief of Laparoscopic Surgery at California Medical Center in San Francisco and the author of three best-selling books including Art & Physics: Parallel Visions in Space and Time and Light. He lectures widely and is a frequent guest on NPR. read more

Hailed by Newsweek as "the most exciting individual in American theater," Anna Deavere Smith is a Tony Award- and Pulitzer-nominated actress and playwright. Her innovative one woman plays blend journalism and theater to explore issues of race, identity and community in America. Smith has appeared in several films, including Philadelphia and The American President, and had recurring roles on The West Wing and The Practice. read more

Lee Smolin is a founding member and research physicist at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario, an adjunct professor of physics at the University of Waterloo, and a cofounder of loop quantum gravity, a theory that attempts to unify quantum physics and Einstein's theory of general relativity. read more

Horst Stormer is the Isidor Isaac Rabi Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Columbia University in New York City and an expert in condensed-matter physics. For his part in the discovery of a new form of electron matter that carries fractional electric charge, he shared the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physics. read more

Michael Turner is a theoretical cosmologist who coined the term dark energy. His research focuses on the earliest moments of creation and he has made seminal contributions to the understanding of inflationary cosmology, particle dark matter, and the theory of the big-bang. read more

Neil deGrasse Tyson is an astrophysicist, author, and the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. He is a highly successful popularizer of astrophysics. read more

Harold Varmus is the president and CEO of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. For his research on retroviruses and the genetic basis of cancer, he received the 1989 Nobel Prize in Medicine. read more

James Watson is a molecular biologist. He is best known for his role in the discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA, for which he was co-recipient of the 1962 Nobel Prize in Medicine. read more

Steven Weinberg holds the Josey Regental Chair in Science at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is a member of the Physics and Astronomy departments. He received the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to the standard model of elementary particle physics. read more

Jonathan Weiner is an award-winning nonfiction author. He is currently a professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism in New York City, where he teaches science writing. His book The Beak of the Finch won the Pulitzer Prize in 1995. read more

Carl Wieman is the director of the Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative at the University of British Columbia and the Science Education Initiative at the University of Colorado at Boulder. For his research in atomic physics and laser spectroscopy, he received the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics. read more

Torsten Wiesel is the Vincent and Brooke Astor Professor Emeritus and President Emeritus at Rockefeller University in New York City. For his work on the neurological basis of vision, he was a recipient of the 1981 Nobel Prize in Medicine. read more

Frank Wilczek is the Herman Feshbach Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. A theoretical physicist, he received the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics for his contribution to the theory of nuclear forces. read more

Shing-Tung Yau is the William Casper Graustein Professor of Mathematics at Harvard University. For his extensive work in differential geometry, the study of mathematical generalizations of curved surfaces, he was the recipient of the 1982 Fields Medal. read more

Michael York has enjoyed a successful international acting career for over 40 years, creating an impressive body of work on stage, screen, and in the recording studio. As well as lecturing, he is the author of five books, including one on acting Shakespeare. read more